Method and machine for making globular surgical sponges



Oct. 14, 1952 H. c. RlORDAN ETAL ,3

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOBULAR SURGICAL SPONGES Filed Nov. 6, 1946 i 4 Sheets-Sheet l CJAEENTORS. ,5. 5522 26 Oct. 14, 1952 H. c. RIORDAN ET AL 2,513,399

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOBULAR SURGICAL SPONGES Filed Nov. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Oct. 14, 1952 H. c. RIORDAN ETAL 2,613,399

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOBULAR SURGICAL SPONGES Filed Nov. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 In L198 h. M

Oct. 14, 1952 H. c. RIORDAN ET AL 2,613,399

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOBULAR SURGICAL SPONGES Filed Nov. 6, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 mmw INVENTOR 153:0?

Patented Oct. 14, 1952 METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING GLOBULAR SURGICAL SPONGES Howard C. Riordan, Oak Park, and Wilfred S. Stone, Chicago, 111.; said Stone assignor to said Riordan Application November 6, 1946, Serial No. 708,026

8 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a method of making surgical sponges and to a machine for practicing the method. The applicant, Riordan, is the rantee of United States Letters Patent No. 2,400,250, dated May 14, 1946, on an application by Carl W. Mott. This patent shows a machine for making surgical sponges from a spool of cotton gauze and a rope of cotton batting, and it emphasizes the importance of feeding the gauze and the rope downwardly with gravity in order to bring a selected length of rope into proper relationship with a longer and wider piece of gauze. In the Mott machine, the mechanism for performing this feeding step is mounted on a pivoted carriage, which swings ninety degrees in each direction during each cycle of the machine so that'the gauze and rope section will be horizontal during the assembling step. This carriage is heavy and limits the speed of the Mott machine. The applicants are concurrently filing an application on a globular sponge making machine which eliminates the heavy carriage by commencing the assembling step while the gauze and the cotton rope are in vertical position. Its Serial No. is 716,220.

The principal object of the present invention is to further increase the speed of the Mott machine by more positively controlling the movement of the cotton rope and the gauze during the initial step of bringing these two elements into proper relationship. When the feed rolls in the Mott machine deliver selected lengths of gauze and rope downwardly, the speed of drop is definitely limited because the cotton is Very light and the air offers a definite resistance. In the present invention, the gauze and the cotton rope are not fed downwardly with gravity. Instead, they are pulled by their leading ends in a horizontal direction into proper relationship.

The invention is disclosed in one embodiment which relies solely upon sets of pincers to grasp the end of the rope and the gauze and pull them into proper relationship. Auxiliary, power driven feed rolls are not disclosed, but'it is anticipated that further increase in speed can be obtained with such feed rolls. The embodiment shown utilizes the assembling devices, transfer table, and stitching elements of the Mott machine, and these are fully described in the Mott patent. They will not be redescribed here. The embodiment is disclosed in drawings comprising four sheets wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine;

' Fig. 2 is a view of the machine from the lefthand side of Fig. 1 with the front supporting plate removed so as to disclose the mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the feed and assembly mechanism.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, numeral I0 identifies a base plate supported by a pedestal l2 and carrying to the right of the numeral I8 the same assembly devices! 3, transfer table l5, and stitching mechanism ll, shown in the Mott Patent No. 2,400,250, see Fig. 13 thereof. The feeding and. assembling mechanism which is the subject of this invention is supported by the two wall plates l6 and I8 which are mounted on the base 10 and held in spaced relationship by transverse bars such as 20 and 22. The main drive shaft I00 is seen viewed from the left, as in Fig. 2, turning counterclockwise.

Continuing to refer to Fig. 2, a table 24 joins the tops of the two side plates l6 and I8. This table is perforated by a hole 26 centrally positioned with respect to the gauze swatches initial position. Referring to Fig. 4, the table is further perforated by a pair of parallel slots 28 and 30, one on each side of the opening 26. Transversely to the slots 28 and 30 is a slot 32 which crosses the slots 28 and 30 at a short distance from the left-hand end thereof, as viewed in Fig. 4. The openings in the table 24 indicated by the numerals 34 and 36, constitute the gauzegrasping positions in the table.

Extending horizontally to the right of the table 24, referring to Figs. 2 and 4, are a pair of facing ways 30 and 40. The horizontal midpoint of the ways as indicated by the dotted line 42 in Fig. 2, is level with the top of the table 24. Dis posed in the ways 38 and 40 are slides 44 and 46, and 48 and 50 respectively. Th slides 44 and 48 are connected rigidly to each other by a shaft 52 and the slides 46 and 50 are connected rigidly to each other by a shaft 54. The shaft 52 carries two pairs of pincers, generally indicated by the numerals 56 and 58. The pincers 56 consist of upper jaw 60 and lower jaw 62. The engaging ends 64 and 66 carry rubber bighting elements 68 and 10. The rearwardly directed ends 12 and 14 of the jaws 60 and 62 pivotally carry links such as 16 and 18, which are pivoted on a shaft 54 which similarly engages similar links attached to the pincers 58. Disposed centrally of the shaft 54 is a link 82 which is pivotally fastened at 84 to a drive arm 86 pivoted on a shaft 88. The arm 86 carries a rotatable cam follower 00 which engages a cam 92 mounted on shaft 84 which by means of a chain 88 is turned counterclockwise by the drive shaft I88.

The cam 92 has a high point 98, which as indicated is in engagement with the cam follower 90 due to the action of the spring I02. Assuming for the moment that there is positioned between the rubber bight elements 68 and I0, the leading edge I04 of a strip of cotton gauze I08 which is being pulled from a spool I08 supported in brackets such as I ID on the base I0, the bighting elements 68 and I are urged toward each other by the action of the links I5 and I8 under the pull of the link 82. In this position, a swatch of cloth as shown in Fig. 4, which is substantially square, has been drawn over the table but it is still connected to the main spool. In order to remove the swatch from the table, it is necessary to release the grip of the bighting elements 68 and I8. To accomplish this there is a drop-off shoulder II2 on the cam 92. When the cam follower 80 engages this shoulder, the link 82 reverses direction, which results in a spreading apart of the bighting elements 88 and "I0, thus releasing the leading edge I04. For the next 180 degrees of are, that is, between the points H4 and H6, the cam surface followsa constant radius around the shaft 94 and hence for half of the cycle, the pincers 58 and 58 occupy a position just to the left of that shown in Fig. 2, but with the jaws I58 and 62 open. The

jaws can only be open by about one-fourth inch being restricted by a lug I I8 which is mounted on lower jaw 82 but in vertical alignment with the upper jaw 80. The stroke of the pincers 58 and 58- ina commercial machine is substantially four inches, and inasmuch as the swatch is substantially four inches wide, a four-inch square of gauze is pulled onto the table 24 for each cycle of the machine.

The lengthv of rope; varies, butv in the embodiment here shown is approximately one-half of the length of the gauze. It is pulled into position beneath the table 24 in much the same manner that the gauze is pulledv into position on the top of the table 24, Referring to Fig. 2, the cotton rope supply is in a container I28 and the cotton rope or filler material I22 is fed over a sheave I24 into a tube I25 which is substantially oversize. This tube has an edge I28 which is substantially one inch away from the center of the hole 28. A pair of vertically aligned slots I28 and I30 are cut through this leading edge I26. Apair of facing ways such as I32, are fastened to the side walls I8 and I8, with the axis of th way at the vertical midpoint of the tube 25. In the way such as I32, are slides such as I38 and I38, which are coupled together in the fashion as heretofore described for the pincers 50 and 58, but in the present assembly, the pincers I44 comprises a single set of jaw I48 and M8 having bighting elements I58 and I52. The pincers element I44 is functioned by a link I54 pivotally connected to an arm I58, which is pivoted at I58 and which carries a roller cam follower I88. The cam follower IIIII is in engagement with cam I82 by virtue of a spring I 84. The cam I82 is identical with the cam 82 but of half size and is identically positioned on the shaft 84. When the roller I80 engages the low point I08 of the cam I82, the bighting element I50 and I52 are in the slots I28 and I38. When the arm I58 resumes its motion to the right, the gripping elements I58 and I52 engage the end of the cotton rope I23 and pull it to the position shown in Fig. 2. Immediately thereafter the cam follower I80 drops over a shoulder I68 so as to release the cotton rope.

With the gauze and the cotton rope in the position shown in Fig. 2, all that is now necessary is to cut them free of their main body portions and push them through the forming ring I70 into the sets of holdin members I3 on the transfer table I5.

The gauze cutting knife bears the numeral I78, and referring to Fig. 3, the knife is seen to be fastened to an inverted, U-shaped member generally indicated by the numeral I18 and consist ing of a pair of vertical side arms I and I82 and a bottom cross member I84. These side arms constitute their own guides and are disposed in ways I86, I88, I98, and I82, which are vertically aligned and mounted on the side members I8 and I8. A pair of springs I84 and I98 urge the knife I18 upwardly. Engaging the upper edge I98 of the inverted U-shaped member H8 is a cam 280 mounted on a shaft 202 which is rotating clockwise through a pair of miter gears 204 and 206,

see Fig. 2. The shaft 202 is supported on brackets 208 and 2I0 (the. latter omitted from Fig. 3 so that thepoker 226 may be seen). When the shaft 202 rotates in a clockwise direction by ninety degrees, the high point 2 I2 on the cam will move the member I18 into its lowermost position, and this will bring the knife I16 downwardly through the opening 32 in the table 24 and the cutting edge of the knife will engage a complementary cutting edge 2 I4 mounted on the edge of the opening 32. This will sever the gauze swatch. During this rotation of the shaft 202, the pincers 58, 58, and

I44 will remain motionless.

Concurrently with this movement, of the knife I18, there will be an. upward movement of the knife 2!.8 which i mounted on the, upper end of aninverted U -shaped frame member, 2 I8, mounted, in similar guideways 0n, the side members, It and I8. Inasmuch as the knife 2I6 must move upwardly, there is, a cross. bar 220, see Fig. 3, on the U-shaped member, and, this cross bar 220 is engaged by a cam 222 mounted on a shaft 202 at an angle of degrees from the cam 200. On an upward movement, the knife edge 2 I6 will engage an arcuate complementary cutting element 224.

The numeral 228 identifies a poker spaced from the side wall by an arm 228 and carrying a pin 230 at its lower extremities. The pin 230 rides in a closed track 232 in an arm 234' which is pivoted at 238. When the knives are approaching the completion of their cutting stroke, an arm 238 rigidly mounted on the shaft 94' engage the end 240 of the arm 2'34 and in turning through. ap proximately sixty degrees of arc, see angle a in Fig; 2, by the main shaft. I 00, the poker is driven upwardly, carrying the section of cotton rope against the gauze, through the ring I10 into the holding device III, the position being shown by dotted lines 242. This charge of filler material is advanced upwardly by the poker 225' into the central portion of the gauze swatch and as this filler material and swatch are forced upwardly through the ring I I0 and into the holding device I3, saidring and holding device cause the perimetric portion of the swatch to be gathered about the charge and thereby provide ajacket of the swatch for, the filler material charge. The holding device I3 comprises two plates 2% and 22a, having a hole 18a through which the poker pushes the gauze swatch and section of cotton rope. As the poker starts to drop downwardly, the plate 22a pinches the tails of the swatch in the small end of the hole I811, all as described in Mott Patent No. 2,400,250, particularly with respect to its Fig. 24. When this point is reached, the knives have returned to theposition shown in Fig. 2 and the points llfi and 244 on the earns 92 and IE2 respectively are in engagement with the cam followers 90 and l60'so that pincers 56, 58, and H4 are about to begin their stroke to the left. The poker 226 does not slowly return to its original position but is snapped downwardly by a spring 246, the moment that the arm 238clears the end '240of the arm 234. I

Rollers 250 and 252 place tension on the gauze andthe cotton rope respectively. Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and useful is; 1. The method of making a globular, surgical sponge from a Spool of strip gauze and cotton rope which comprises the steps of grasping the end of such strip of gauze and pulling it endwise across and into an assembling zone, of similarly pulling the end of a cotton rope into said zone so that an end portion thereof is adjacent one fiat side of the gauze, of positioning a formative member on the other side of the strip gauze in transverse alignment with the rope section, of severing the end sections of the gauze and the rope in the zone from their main body portions, of pushing the rope section against the gauze and on through the formative member so that the gauze surrounds the cotton rope section with the corners as tails at one side thereof, and of then fastening the tails of the gauze to form a globular, surgical sponge.

2. The method of making a globular, surgical sponge from strips of gauze and cotton rope which comprises the steps of grasping an end portion of the gauze strip and endwise pulling it across and over a hole in a table top, of grasping and endwise pulling an end portion of the cotton rope into vertical alignment with said opening but beneath the table top of positioning a formative member above the end section of gauze and in vertical alignment with the hole in the table, of severing the end sections of the textile material and the rope in the zone from their main body portions, of pushing the rope section against the textile material and on through the formative member so that the textile material surrounds the cotton rope section with the corners as tails at one side thereof, and of then fastening the tails of the textile material to form a globular, surgical sponge.

3. A machine for making a globular surgical sponge comprising a frame, a flat table top on said frame, an opening through saidtop, knives for shearing sheet material in the plane of said table top and at one side of said opening, a pair of pincers advanceable transversely past said opening and past said knives for grasping the end of a roll of gauze at a point on that side of the knives away from the opening, means for retracting the pincers in closed grasping relation on an end of the gauze past the knives and the opening to a selected point therebeyond, a formative member in vertical alignment with and above said opening, means for operating the shearing knives to remove said gauze end portion from the gauze roll and leave such end portion in registry with said opening, means for delivering a charge of filler material in axial alignment with said opening below the table top, a poker movable from a point below the table top upwardly through the opening and formative member to poke the filler material charge and gauze end portion therethrough.

4. A machine for making a globular surgical sponge comprising a frame, aflat table top on said frame, a circular opening through said top. an elongated opening through the table top and at one side of the circular opening, a, knife edge along one of the long sides of said opening", a complementary knife vertically descendible against the knife edge, a pair of parallel slots in the table top intersecting the elongated opening and extendin away from it along both sides of the circular opening, a pair of pincers having coacting jaws which meet substantially in the plane of the table top, one pair of pincers in each slot, means for simultaneously functioning the pincers in a horizontal movement so as to close the pincers at that end of their slots adjacent the knives and to open them at the other end of the slots, a formative member in vertical alignment with said opening, means for delivering a sponge core into a position axially below said opening, means for pushing said delivered sponge core upwardly through said circular opening against the cotton gauze and through the formative member, and means timed to function in sequence the pincers, the knives, the core delivering means and the pushing means.

5. A machine for making globular surgical sponges comprising a frame, a guide structure mounted on said frame, said guide structure having a fiat surface and also having an opening registering with such surface, a formative member in opposed spaced relation from said surface and having a hole axially aligned with said opening, means for severing sheet material substantially in the plane of said surface and at one side of said opening, grasping means projectable transversely past the opening and past the severing means for grasping an end of a strip of sheet material, means for retracting the grasping means for dragging an end portion of said strip of sheet material past the severing means into axial alignment with the opening and between such opening and hole, means for operating the severing means for removin the registered strip end portion from the rest of the strip, means on the opposite side of said structure from said flat surface for pushing a sponge core through said opening against a central portion of the severed strip end portion and then pushing said core and strip end portion through the hole in said formative member to envelop said core in the strip end portion, and means for securing the strip end portion in its enveloping relation about said core.

6. The method of making a surgical sponge from a strip of filler material and a strip of gauze, comprising the steps of reaching in one direction across an assembly zone to grasp said strips at respective ends thereof, pulling in the opposite direction upon said grasped ends to drag end portions of the strips into said zone, severing said end portions from their strips to respectively form a filler material charge and a gauze swatch therefrom, advancing said charge into a central portion of the swatch while gathering the perimetric portion of the swatch about the charge to provide a jacket thereabout, and securing the perimetric portion in the gathered condition to retain the charge in the jacket.

7. The method of making a globular surgical sponge from a strip of gauze and a strip of filler material comprising the steps of reaching in one direction across an assembly zone to grasp end portions of said strips, pulling said grasped strip ends in the opposite direction across said zone to place end portions of the strips contiguously in said zone with the gauze strip end portion disposed flatwise to the filler strip end portion, severing said strip end portions from their strips to respectively form a swatch and a filler material charge therefrom, pushing said charge flatwise against a central portion of the swatch pursuant to pushing the swatch end charge through a passage in a formative structure for causing the swatch to surround the charge while corners of the swatch project to one side thereof in the form of tails, and fastening said tails together for retaining the swatch upon and about said charge.

8. In a machine for making articles of manufacture comprising a gauze jacket encasing a charge of fibrous material, gauze holding means adapted for paying out a gauze strip in an endwise manner, an article forming structure containing an opening, gauze grasping means reciprocable across said opening toward and away from said gauze holding means, trip cutting shears disposed between said structure and said gauze holding means, means for reciprocating the gauze grasping means to first cause advance thereof across said opening and past said shears toward the gauze holding means and into grasping relation with an end of a gauze strip held thereby and then to retract for pulling an end portion of the strip past the shears and into registration with the forming structure opening, means for actuating the shears for cutting said gauze end portion from the main body of the strip, means for delivering a charge of the filler material into substantial axial registry with the opening in said forming structure and on the opposite side of the strip end portion therefrom, and means for ramming said charge against said gauze end portion and thereafter ramming said gauze end portion with the filler material charge in to the opening of the forming structure to cooperate with said forming structure in shrouding the charge in the gauze strip end portion.

HOWARD C. RIORDAN. WILFRED S. STONE.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Mott May 14, 1946 Number 

